Saturday, July 28, 2012

I think the headline alone would be a sufficient enough recap, but I'll touch on a few things anyway because I love sharing my Rockies misery with all of you.

What Went Wrong: Well, the good news is all of the Reds home runs were solo. The bad news is they hit five of them. I don't care which ballpark you're in or what lineup you're facing, five is too many.

The three homers Friedrich allowed were all crushed. No cheapies at all. But those all came in the first three innings. The Reds then dinked and dunked him in the 5th (walk, three singles) and Jim Tracy had no patience for it, pulling him at only 55 pitches. Josh Roenicke then poured gasoline on Friedrich's ERA by allowing a two-run double to Brandon Phillips.

I still have no idea how to evaluate our young pitchers under the current pitching system, so this was just another "meh" outing in my eyes. Hopefully Jhoulys Chacin can return after his impending four-start rehab assignment on time and the Rockies will be ready to operate like a major league organization again so we can evaluate them as such.

Turning Point: The Rockies struck for three in the 1st, giving Friedrich a pretty nice cushion to work with. He then immediately gave up 2nd inning home runs to Ryan Ludwick and Todd Frazier.

I think we all realized where the game was headed at that point. Including Dan O'Dowd.

Was that game just completely boring or was that game completely uninteresting? Those are the only two options I'm giving you, and the good news you can't go wrong with either answer.

What Went Wrong: Well, aside from the obvious, which is scoring zippo against Bronson Arroyo and company, I'd like to focus on the continued defensive struggles of Wilin Rosario, which were on full display during the 6th inning once Adam Ottavino was summoned. In the span of I believe three pitches, Rosario was unable to knock down two of them, which allowed Ryan Ludwick to come around from second base (without a ball being put in play) with Cincinnati's third and final run.

The first one was an obvious wild pitch, one that no catcher in baseball would have been able to smother. But the awful technique and the awkward looking stab he made at the ball were detectable to even the least experienced baseball watcher. It was brutal.

The second should have been much easier to block and keep in front of him, but Rosario failed to stay down allowing the ball to squirt between his legs.

That technique leaves an awful lot to be desired, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't it pain me to watch him struggle to that extent for a couple of reasons.

1. I really like the kid and really want to see him succeed. That's the obvious one.

2. At times his technique looks so bad you almost wonder if it's possible he'll never improve. I'm sure he will in time, mainly because he seems like the type who will put in all of the extra work necessary, but it's discouraging/disappointing when you're constantly reminded just how far away he is from getting there. Time is on his side, though, so let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best.